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Everything You Need to Know About the U.S. Economy in 13 Charts

With 2013 nearly over, The Motley Fool reviews the year in 13 simple and easy-to-understand charts.

With the calendar nearly closed on 2013, let's take a look at how the economy has performed in 2013 through simply glancing at 13 charts.

The market First, we've seen resounding gains in the stock market in 2013. The S&P 500(SNPINDEX:^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES:^DJI) are up 27.5% and 24%, respectively, on the year:

^SPX data by YCharts.

Companies across the board have delivered astounding results, and corporate profits are at all-time highs -- almost three times higher than where they stood in the fourth quarter of 2008:

Source: Federal Reserve.

While many have said the market has become entirely too expensive, consider that while valuations are high, they are still well below levels seen in the peaks before 1929, 1999, and even 2006 stock market crashes:

Source: Robert Shiller.

The market has stormed out to huge gains -- but thankfully, that's largely the result of improved businesses and not "irrational exuberance."

Housing It is no secret that the run up and subsequent collapse of the housing market was one of the biggest contributors to the recession the United States and the world endured. And while things aren't nearly at the levels they were in 2007, the Case-Shiller Housing Index shows that through the first nine months of 2013, housing prices on average are up more than 10% year to date, and are almost 20% higher than where they were at the beginning of 2012:

Source: Federal Reserve.

This good news of housing price appreciation has led to American homeowners having more equity in their homes than debt for the first time since the third quarter of 2007. This ended a nearly six-year stretch where they had more debt than equity:

Source: Federal Reserve.

And while mortgage rates are on the rise, the reality is they still remain well below where they stood at the beginning of 2011:

Source: Federal Reserve.

EmploymentThankfully, though, it isn't simply the housing market that has recovered, but also the labor market, as the unemployment rate now stands at 7%, well below the 7.9% seen in January of this year, and drastically lower than the peaks that hovered around 10% in 2009 and 2010:

Source: Federal Reserve.

While the rate of jobs created hasn't been ideal, nonetheless, American companies have been steadily adding to the workforce with each passing quarter since the winter of 2010:

Source: Federal Reserve.

In fact, through the first 10 months of the year (the most recent available data), the U.S. has added more than 1.6 million jobs back into the economy:

Source: Federal Reserve.

The economy The good news is, the recovery hasn't been driven simply by one sector, and as you can see, retail sales are charging back in a major way since the recession -- as shown in the gray shading -- and are even above the pre-crisis levels:

Source: Federal Reserve.

But it isn't simply retail that is charging back -- industrial production is making a comeback as well:

Source: Federal Reserve.

And of course, all of these things coupled together have allowed our gross domestic product -- which measures the output of the U.S. economy -- rise to historic peaks:

Source: Federal Reserve.

2013 has not been without its own amount of setbacks, troubles, and fears, but all in all, it's been quite a year for the U.S. economy, and all signs point to that continuing into next year.

Author

After a few stints in banking and corporate finance, Patrick joined the Motley Fool as a writer covering the financial sector. He's scaled back his everyday writing a bit, but he's always happy to opine on the latest headline news surrounding Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett and all things personal finance.